Modi Government Exposes Its Hostility Towards Mahatma Gandhi
Strikes at the Stomachs of the Poor!
— Vaiko Condemns
Ignoring the strong opposition raised in Parliament by the Congress, DMK, MDMK, Left parties, and other opposition parties, the Union Minister for Agriculture, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, tabled the new Rural Employment Guarantee Bill yesterday, December 16.
In 2005, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government implemented the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) to provide sustainable livelihoods to rural people.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was framed on the basis of Article 21 of the Constitution and the Directive Principles of State Policy, ensuring a fair sharing of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This Act emerged as a crucial and sustainable solution to address drought, rural distress, and unemployment. It played a vital role in alleviating rural poverty and enabling millions to rise above destitution.
However, after coming to power in 2014, the BJP government led by Narendra Modi has continuously conspired to weaken and dismantle the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Between 2008 and 2011, the annual allocation for this scheme stood at 0.4% of GDP. But the Modi government has steadily reduced the allocation year after year in the Union Budget.
While ₹98,468 crore was allocated in 2021–2022, the allocation was reduced to ₹73,000 crore in 2022–2023 and further slashed to ₹60,000 crore in 2023–2024. Even this reduced amount constituted only 0.198% of GDP.
Due to this severe fund shortage, the guaranteed 100 days of employment could not be provided, and on average, rural workers received barely 40 days of work per year.
Not only that, citing non-linking of Aadhaar, the Union government removed lakhs of poor rural beneficiaries across the country from the scheme. States not ruled by the BJP were particularly and completely discriminated against in fund allocation.
In this backdrop, the Union government decided to rename the scheme as “Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAM-G)”, for which the Union Cabinet granted approval last week.
Accordingly, the new Rural Employment Guarantee Bill (VB-GRAM-G) was tabled yesterday.
The move by the Narendra Modi government to introduce a Bill that removes the name of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act deserves the strongest condemnation.
Through this act, the Union government has once again openly displayed its hatred and hostility towards Mahatma Gandhi.
Such actions are hardly surprising under a BJP regime that is guided from behind the scenes by forces associated with those who once conspired to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi.
In 2016, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz remarked that “The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) is not only India’s most progressive programme, but also a lesson to the entire world.”
Yet, the Narendra Modi government is distorting the very objective of MNREGA and attempting to dilute the scheme itself, effectively striking at the livelihoods of crores of poor people. This is an unforgivable act of betrayal.
The people of Tamil Nadu will teach the Modi government an appropriate lesson for its anti-people policies in the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections.
Vaiko
General Secretary
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
‘Thaayagam’
Chennai – 8
17.12.2025